Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Grilled Corn
Cairo (Some years ago)
I wake up to the sound of the street sellers calling out the names of the goods they're selling. The birds on the trees are chirping so loudly, I imagine they are over a hundred birds. I open the window and the soft breeze touches my cheeks....what a beautiful day. My grandma calls out to me that breakfast is ready, of course "foul" sandwiches and home-made pickles on the side. A quick shower, a change of clothes, and then breakfast with my grandma, and probabaly my aunt who comes over to spend the day with us. A lot of juicy gossip and then they're off to the kitchen to start preparing lunch. I am lazy, I talk to my friends on the phone, read a book and watch some television until it's time for lunch - another delicious meal. After lunch, we sit in the balcony enjoying the evening tea and talking some more. The scent of grilled corn fills the place, and I go down to buy some for all of us. By that time, we're joined by the rest of the extended family, my uncle, my cousins, and my parents who usually spend the vacation doing paperwork and decorating our apartment which we will live in one day when we come back to live in Egypt. That's the way it was most of the summer vacation; lazy days and noisy nights and grilled corn.
Cairo (Present time)
I was walking down the street last night and I was overwhelmed by a familiar smell - grilled corn. And then I was overwhelmed by so much more - the memory of how summer used to be, and a reminder of how much I have lost.
Summer is supposed to be a time of happiness and enjoyment. It is that, but it also means other things for me as well. Other things I don't share with anyone, but things that I feel anyway.
How can something as simple as a familiar smell bring up so many repressed feelings and emotions? It was as if I was transported back, to a different time, a different place and different people. The place, my grandma's villa, still stands as it used to before.......but I can't bear to go there anymore. Afterall, what is the value of a place without its inhabitants? Without the laughter, the gossip, the tasty food....it is just an empty space, empty of everything, cold and lonely. Another reminder of the good times that are lost now forever.
I was brought back to the present by my husband's voice asking me if I wanted to buy some grilled corn. I declined. Some other time maybe, but not tonight.
I've had enough grilled corn for one night.
I wake up to the sound of the street sellers calling out the names of the goods they're selling. The birds on the trees are chirping so loudly, I imagine they are over a hundred birds. I open the window and the soft breeze touches my cheeks....what a beautiful day. My grandma calls out to me that breakfast is ready, of course "foul" sandwiches and home-made pickles on the side. A quick shower, a change of clothes, and then breakfast with my grandma, and probabaly my aunt who comes over to spend the day with us. A lot of juicy gossip and then they're off to the kitchen to start preparing lunch. I am lazy, I talk to my friends on the phone, read a book and watch some television until it's time for lunch - another delicious meal. After lunch, we sit in the balcony enjoying the evening tea and talking some more. The scent of grilled corn fills the place, and I go down to buy some for all of us. By that time, we're joined by the rest of the extended family, my uncle, my cousins, and my parents who usually spend the vacation doing paperwork and decorating our apartment which we will live in one day when we come back to live in Egypt. That's the way it was most of the summer vacation; lazy days and noisy nights and grilled corn.
Cairo (Present time)
I was walking down the street last night and I was overwhelmed by a familiar smell - grilled corn. And then I was overwhelmed by so much more - the memory of how summer used to be, and a reminder of how much I have lost.
Summer is supposed to be a time of happiness and enjoyment. It is that, but it also means other things for me as well. Other things I don't share with anyone, but things that I feel anyway.
How can something as simple as a familiar smell bring up so many repressed feelings and emotions? It was as if I was transported back, to a different time, a different place and different people. The place, my grandma's villa, still stands as it used to before.......but I can't bear to go there anymore. Afterall, what is the value of a place without its inhabitants? Without the laughter, the gossip, the tasty food....it is just an empty space, empty of everything, cold and lonely. Another reminder of the good times that are lost now forever.
I was brought back to the present by my husband's voice asking me if I wanted to buy some grilled corn. I declined. Some other time maybe, but not tonight.
I've had enough grilled corn for one night.
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